Editorial: Learn what's in the health bill

Wednesday

Mar 24, 2010 at 12:01 AMMar 24, 2010 at 7:50 PM

Americans are divided over whether the national health reform bill President Barack Obama will sign today is a historic milestone or an abomination. What the two sides have in common is that most have only a sketchy idea of what the bill will do.

Americans are divided over whether the national health reform bill President Barack Obama signed Tuesday is a historic milestone or an abomination. What the two sides have in common is that most have only a sketchy idea of what the bill will do.

Part of this confusion comes with the legislative process; bills change as deals are made every step of the way. More confusion comes from the hyperbole and misinformation that have made up much of the political discourse. The economics of health care isn't a simple subject in the first place; when confusion is intentionally spread for political advantage, it's no wonder people respond with fear.

But Tuesday's bill-signing, to be followed by some relatively minor tweaks included in a reconciliation bill awaiting Senate action, makes it the law of the land. It's time Americans learned what's in it for them.

While some major provisions don't kick in until 2014, including the individual mandate and the insurance exchanges through which uninsured Americans and small businesses can purchase coverage, some parts of health reform will take effect within six months, including:

- Young adults without insurance will be able to be covered on their parents' family plan until they turn 27, at an additional fee.

- Insurance companies will no longer be allowed to deny coverage for children because of pre-existing conditions. Denying health care to a sick child or bankrupting his family to pay for it without insurance is surely the cruelest provision of the health care status quo.

- Adults denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions will be eligible to buy into a new high-risk insurance pool immediately. The full ban on insurance discrimination based on medical history kicks in in 2014.

- Insurers will no longer be able to put a cap on lifetime payouts, which has been a factor in the recent rise of medical bankruptcies.

- Insurers will no longer be allowed to cancel insurance for people who become sick.

- Small businesses will immediately become eligible for tax credits to help provide insurance for employees.

- The "doughnut hole," which limits prescription drug coverage for some Medicare recipients, will begin to be closed. Recipients who fall into the coverage gap will initially be given a $250 subsidy; in 2011, a 50 percent discount kicks in, with the hole fully closed in 2020.

- Insurance companies will be required to cover preventive care in all new policies. Beginning Jan. 1, 2011, all Medicare recipients will be entitled to one free physical exam per year.

As positive as they are, many people may not notice the parts of the bill that go into effect this year, or even longer than that. As this law goes into effect, people will continue sending their premium checks to the same insurance company. They will get their health care from the same physicians and at the same hospitals as always. They will learn that, contrary to what they may have heard, there will be no federal bureaucrat signing off on their physicians' orders.

Those who suffer directly from the inequities in the current health system will see for themselves what health reform is. If they open their eyes and look past the political hype, others will see what it isn't: This is not a "government takeover of one-sixth of the economy." It is a moderate, fiscally-responsible, market-based approach to making our health care system more efficient and more fair.

Now it's time to put the politics aside and make health care reform work for all Americans.

The MetroWest Daily News

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.